Tortilla Pinwheels

I love this easy appetizer that can be made ahead of time.



Tortilla Pinwheels

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese softened
2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
1 dash of garlic powder
1 (4 ounce) can of chopped green chilies
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of salsa
8 10-inch flour tortillas

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients except for tortillas.

2. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the tortillas. Roll the tortillas and refrigerate about 4 hours before slicing into 1 inch pieces.

Rumbly Tumbly Brownie Trifle

For a holiday party, I decided to make a dessert. I thought I would try something I hadn't made before. I searched Allrecipes.com for different holiday desserts and came across a few different trifle desserts. I adapted a few of them and made my own trifle. It was pretty good.



Rumbly Tumbly Brownie Trifle

Ingredients
1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese softened
1-1/2 cups whipping cream
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Prepare brownie mix according to the package directions. Cool completely. Cut into 1 inch squares.

2. Beat cream cheese, whipping cream, and vanilla extract in a large bowl at medium speed with a whisk attachment.

3. In a trifle bowl, layer half of the brownies and half of the cream cheese mixture. Repeat layers. Top with chocolate candy on chocolate cookie crumbs (I used Joe Joe crumbs to top).

Cookies!

I did some baking this weekend. I decided to bake cookies for people at work. I went back to an old favorite of mine that is easy and not totally from scratch. You start with a box of cake mix and you can use pretty much any cake mix flavor you want. I usually do chocolate cake, but I decide to mix it up and I made two varieties: Red Velvet crinkle cookies and French Vanilla Cake butterscotch chip cookies.



1 package of cake mix
1/3 cup of oil
2 eggs
(For the Red Velvet crinkle cookies: powdered sugar)
(For French Vanilla butterscotch chip cookies: 1 cup of butterscotch chips)

Blend cake mix, oil, and eggs.
(For French Vanilla butterscotch chip cookies: blend butterscotch chips).
When blended together, roll into 1 inch balls.
(For the Red Velvet crinkle cookies: Dredge in powdered sugar).
Bake on greased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes.

A very easy recipe and very yummy.

Gourmet Club for the holidays

Our gourmet club was simply a holiday theme. Some yummy eats from the gourmet club.

Pumpkin Squash soup



Garden fresh salad (literally the lettuce, pepper, and tomatoes were picked from the garden this morning)



Tenderloin pork with chimacura sauce (this sauce was soooo good), potatoes, and artichoke-spinach casserole.



Butterscotch brownies topped with chocolate ganache

Butterscotch Brownies

Today we had our gourmet club and being the holiday season, we had a holiday theme. I was in charge of making a dessert. I love to bake so I was quite happy with this assignment. I wanted to try something different from my go-to staples for baking. I had been looking around on the internet when I found on one of my favorite blogs, Bakerella, this recipe for butterscotch brownies. Mmmm, that sounded yummy and different. she got the brownie recipe from VeryBestBaking.com and I used her ganache recipe to give it a little more omph like she did. Here is how it turned out:



Chewy Butterscotch Brownies
From: VeryBestBaking.com

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Butterscotch Flavored Morsels, divided
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans since I had some left over from Thanksgiving)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

COMBINE flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in 1 cup morsels and nuts. Spread into ungreased 13x9-inch baking pan. (I would grease the pan so that it does not stick). Sprinkle with remaining morsels.

BAKE for 30 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Chocolate Ganache
From: Bakerella

6 oz. chocolate chip morsels
6 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp unsalted butter

In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage.
Pour over the chocolate chip morsels.
Let stand about 20 seconds and stir until smooth.
Pour over brownies.